Seasonal migrant labour: a boon for Australian country towns?

In 2002 Queensland farmer Ian Nielsen was unable to harvest 30 per cent of his 80 hectare asparagus crop because he could not secure enough workers to do the picking. As a result 150 tonnes of asparagus worth around $1 million dollars was left in the fields. Most of the asparagus had been destined for export to Japan. Nielsen employs up to 150 casual workers during the asparagus harvest but securing labour is his ‘biggest and most difficult challenge’. He told a Senate committee that the situation was so bad that many of his farming colleagues had given up growing asparagus and switched to ‘crops such as peanuts, which can be mechanically harvested’. He said that similar labour shortages afflict citrus, onion and potato growers: ‘There are not enough workers capable of handling the physical rigours of harvesting fruit and vegetables’ (Nielsen, 2003). The Queensland Fruit and Vegetable Growers Association (now called Growcom) estimates that due to labour shortages its members lose up to 10 per cent of their crops – produce estimated to be worth $900 million (cited in EDC, 2004, p.44). Such problems are not confined to Queensland. Fruit growers from around Bunbury in the southwest of WA say demand for orchard workers outstrips supply, particularly during harvest season (Shine, 2005). In Victoria, Nigel Garrard, the head of SPC-Ardmona, says that for the last three years production at his Shepparton cannery has been lower than it might have been because ‘fruit has been left on the trees because there aren’t enough people to pick it’ (Colman and Korporaal, 2005), while a Yarra Valley berry grower says labour shortages in 2004 forced him to ‘drop’ 6 tonnes of raspberries from his vines. A leading Australian fruit exporter says the lack of a reliable supply of seasonal labour significantly inhibits industry growth in the Murray Valley irrigation region and limits export income. [Introduction]